Socket and rod coupling



July 7, 1959 J. DELISO 2,893,769

SOCKET AND ROD COUPLING Original Filed July 20, 1956 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1FIG.8

INVENTOR JOHN DELISO ATTORNEY July 7, 1959 so I 2,893,769

SOCKET AND ROD COUPLING Original Filed July 20, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR JOHN DELISO ATTORNEY United States Patent i 1 SOCKET AND RODCOUPLING John Deliso, Worcester, Mass.

Original application July 20, 1956, Serial No. 599,224, now Patent No.2,862,746, dated December 2, 1958. Divided and this applicationSeptember 26, 1958, Serial No. 763,501

2 Claims. (Cl. 287-'126) This application is a division of my priorapplication Serial No. 599,224, filed by me July 20, 1956, now PatentNo. 2,862,746, and relates to a new and improved coupling particularlyadapted for releasably securing a rod to a. socket, whether the socketbe used as a wrench, as a rod extension, or as a thimble in a handle forinterchangeable tools, or in any other form or relationship desired;however, the principal object of the present invention includes theprovision of the new and improved coupling principally for use in asocket wrench, the construction being such as to avoid the use of theconventional spring-pressed ball or detent.

Other objects of the invention include the provision of a couplingcomprising a socket which may be in the form of a hollow thimble closedat one end and open at the other end, said thimble having a portion ofthe interior thereof in cylindrical form, said cylindrical portionincluding an internal groove which may be annular, and which holds anannular resilient retaining spring strip therein, the spring stripextending into the bore of the cylindrical portion to frictionallyreceive and yieldably hold a rod conforming in shape generally to theshape of the bore in the thimble, and said thimble being also providedwith a non-circular portion cooperating with a similarly shapednon-circular portion on the rod which is held by the spring stripwhereby the socket may drive the rod, or vice-versa, without theliability of accidental removal of the rod from the socket, but at thesame time the parts are quickly and easily detachable due to the natureof the frictional retention of the rod by the spring strip.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 isa view illustrating one form of socket and rod connection;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the socket on a greatly enlarged scale;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view, taken generally on the line 33 ofFig. 2;

Fig. 3a is a section on line 3a-3a of Fig. 2;

Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 are end views of the rod illustrating various shapesof driving surfaces which may be utilized in this invention;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view showing a modification;

Fig. 9 1s a View in elevation illustrating a modified form of rod; and

Fig. 10 is a sectional view illustrating a modification.

In Fig. 1 there is shown a socket member 10 and a rod member 12. Thesocket member 10 is illustrated as a cylindrical thimble and the rodmember 12 is shown as cylindrical throughout the major portion of itslength but having a square end 14 which is adapted to be received withinthe thimble 10 to be held therein, whereby the rod may rotate the socketor vice-versa. The socket 10 may be knurled or plain, and it may be inthe form of a socket for a socket wrench or it may be used in a PatentedJuly 7, 1959 ratchet wrench or as a shank holder in a handle for a setthimble is closed at one end as at 16 and is open at the opposite end asat 18. Starting at one end 18, the thimble is provided with a generallycylindrical bore 20 which extends inwardly a convenient distance andthen terminates adjacent the closed end 16 in a square socket indicatedat 22.

Intermediate the ends of the cylindrical portion of the bore, there isprovided an internal annular groove 24 in which is received and held anannular spring 26. This spring is held in the groove because its normalexterior diameter is greater than the diameter of the bore. On the otherhand, its interior dimension is less than the diameter of the bore andthis is clearly illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, wherein it is clear thatthe spring strip 26 although held in the groove against extractionextends into the bore for the purpose of yieldably frictionally grippingthe cylindrical portion 12 of the rod of Fig. 1.

The spring 26 may be a split metal ring of proper tension, or it may bean annular rubber member or made of nylon or the like. In any event, thefunction of this spring strip is for the purpose of annularly graspingthe rod as above described when the same is thrust into the bore of thethimble 10. Small longitudinal grooves 25 coincide with the corners ofthe square portion 22 and act to guide the corners of portion 14 intoseating relation in the socket.

When the rod is thrust into the bore, the square end 14 thereof willseat in the square socket 22, thus providing four driving faces forsolidly driving one member by the other without any danger of slippageor camming action, etc. By this means, a completely positive rotativedrive is assured while the spring strip 26 provides against accidentalremoval of the rod from the socket. On the other hand, the rod isremovable from the socket manually merely by pulling it out andovercoming the friction of the spring strip.

Referring now to Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7, there 'are here shown respectivelya square, an oval, a triangular, and a flanged or wing-type rod end, anyone of which may be utilized to carry out the purposes of the presentinvention. Many other shapes may likewise be used, but it is believedthat the disclosures of Figs. 4 to 7 inclusive serve to illustrate thefact that this invention is not limited to the square socket and rod endshape.

Also, in Fig. 8 there is shown an alternative form of the inventionwhich here has been disclosed as applied to the fin or wing-type of rodas shown in Fig. 7. In this case, the rod is indicated by the referencenumeral 28 and it is provided with a reduced end portion 30 which isfrictionally held by the annular spring strip 32 located and held in theinterior groove 34 in the socket or thimble member 36. The fins 38 slideinto and are held nonrotatively relative to the socket or thimble 38 indiametrically opposed longitudinal slots 40. It will be clear that inthis case also the fins 38 could be dispensed with and any of the othershapes of driving faces or surfaces may be used instead.

material or the like which is lightly forced into the k tapered portionof the socket and is held thereby frictionally similarly to the holdingaction of ring 26; The main difference in this modification resides inthe fact that the ring or grommet 56 is positioned upon the rod 54rather than in the socket.

It will'be seen that this invention provides a relatively simple andeasily operated coupling of the class described and that it does awaycompletely with the conventional spring-pressed detent construction. Itwill be seen that one of the advantages of the present invention residesin the fact that the rod contains no moving parts whatsoever andtherefore it. is less expensive to manufacture sets of tools with asingle handle and a plurality of removable shanks since the shanks neednot be provided with any movable parts such as the conventionalspring-pressed ball or detent.

Further, a much more positive drive is presented herein than is possiblein the usual spring-gripped shank, and a great deal more force can beapplied to a Wrench or other tool than in prior art constructions.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do notwish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than asset forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. A releasable coupling comprising a socket member and a rod to beaxially applied thereto and releasably secured therein, said rod havinga non-circular rotatively driving portion thereon for entry into thesocket member, and a corresponding non-circular rotatively drivingportion in the socket for reception thereof whereby the rod or socketmember is selectively used to rotatively drive the other, said socketand rod also having generally cylindrical non-driving portions adaptedto correspond when the non-circular portion of the rod is seated withrespect to the non-circular portion of the socket, and aring-likeresilient member mounted on the cylindrical portion of the rod andpositioned to frictionally grip the corresponding interior surface ofthe socket member when the rotatively driving portions are engaged.

2. The coupling of claim 1 wherein the interior of the socket is taperedto increasingly wedge the resilient member as the rod is entered intothe socket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS DeGray June 11,

